Around Australia with 8yo son

John_Johnny

Long Timer

Mataranka Springs. That bloke behind us looks grumpy!
The health giving waters mustn't be working! :bs



Bike all fixed. Just a bit of paint off and the dashboard sub frame needs straightening.

Arrived in Mataranka at midday, setup our little tent and jumped in the thermal springs. Very nice and I think it put a bit of spring in my step, but we're going to sleep early tonight in preparation for a long run tomorrow. I know I can knock off a thousand clicks in a day, but Mt Isa is 1,200km so I'm hoping the unrestricted speed limits will get us there in less than 12 hours. I must resist temptation and stay safe, but this beemer seems quite happy at 160 with the adjustable windscreen keeping the noise down and the engine is just purring along. At 100kph it's still under 3,000rpm so it's geared for autobahn speeds I guess. The roads around NT are excellent. Looks like a lot of Federal funds help? If we want to make Mt Isa before sunset, we'll have to leave early and bypass Tennant Creek. I'm planning on turning left at the three ways.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

Somewhere between Three Ways and Barkley Homestead

After we turned off the Stuart Hwy the road got quiet. No cars or trucks. No trees or scrub. No bends, curves, ups or downs. Nothing. Just a road through the desert and after a few hours looking for signs of civilization and the Barkley Homestead I noticed the road seemed to dissappear in the heat haze. I stopped for a stretch/pee and took this photo. No problem parking the bike in the middle of the road. There's no one here. Nothing but us and this beautiful bike on a road that's in perfect condition.

Must get back on the bike and keep moving. 1,200km to cover today and Mt Isa is still a long long way down this road.

I'm thinking Talking Heads - We're on a Road to Nowhere
 
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John_Johnny

Long Timer

Goodbye NT


Hello Queensland

We've been riding hard all day with only 2 quick refueling stops at Three Ways and Barkley Homestead. Both stops were less then 10 minutes and the pee break was 5 minutes but Mt Isa is STILL 200k in front of us. The road has turned to shite on the Qld side and the shadows are getting long. I'm still ok but Trev is getting tired and I don't want to risk him falling asleep on the back. We've had the intercom on non stop since Barkley so I can keep chatting to him just to be sure he's awake.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

Road train in Camooweal

We didn't make it as far as Mt Isa. Now we're in Queensland it's back to 100kph speed limits. The road is rough and it's getting late so I decided discretion was the better part of valour. We are staying the night in a cheap cabin in Camooweal. It's dirty, hot and full of black bugs.
The road from Mataranka to Camooweal was uneventful apart from a few hairy moments passing road trains. These monsters trucks are hurtling along at 130kph and the gaps between the trailers cause the bike to flick in like it's being sucked into a vacuum. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought some of these had more than three trailers and getting around them was difficult and dangerous on a bike with heaps of top end power so I can imagine the horrors faced by someone in a Mazda 323 trying to overtake on a road with no speed limit.
Tomorrow we face a choice at Cloncurry. Turn left for Charters Towers and Townsville or right for Longreach and Rockhampton.
 

Williamson

Part of the furniture
........ staying the night in a cheap cabin in Camooweal. It's dirty, hot and full of black bugs ...... passing road trains. These monsters trucks are hurtling along at 130kph and the gaps between the trailers cause the bike to flick in like it's being sucked into a vacuum. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought some of these had more than three ....... left for Charters Towers and Townsville or right for Longreach and Rockhampton.

I've stayed in a few dodgy cabins and rooms over the years, but none (that I remember) had black bugs - wasn't something you picked up in Kalgoolie?

Road trains, up to four trailers permissible "on road", no limit "off road" - 12 is common. Kenny will be along soon to correct me, if needed.

I hope you turned left, Charters Towers, there are some magnificent old buildings to see there.
 

twowheeler

two wheels are best
We are staying the night in a cheap cabin in Camooweal. It's dirty, hot and full of black bugs.
......
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought some of these had more than three trailers.

Sounds like the "cabins" behind the Marla roadhouse, they look like large dog kennels, are hot and stink of thousands of bodies sweating out beer into the stained mattresses.

Quad road trains aren't as common as triples, but they're there (in that photo you're parked in front of a quad I think ).

Good yarn.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer


Sorry. We turned right. I know, I know. I still feel bad about it. It's a bit like taking a short cut but turning left meant heading back North and after being on the bike for so long, the lure of taking the shortest most direct route to Noosa was irresistible.
We only stopped for a 5 minute fuel topup at Mt Isa, then a salad roll at Cloncurry. I have got into the habit of collecting cloth badges at each town and it took a bit of looking around Cloncurry to find one. As we were riding through McKinlay I noticed a familiar looking pub. Although I wasn't planning on stopping, curiosity got the better of me and I turned around. It was the Walkabout Hotel from Crocodile Dundee. We chatted to the drunks for a few minutes then asked one bloke to take a photo. He was giggling a bit and gesticulating to someone behind us, but I didn't twig until my wife got the negatives developed in Melbourne. Look closely. Do you see it?
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

Waltzing Matilda show - Kynuna


Day 30 - Camooweal to Winton. 657km.
Not far from McKinlay was Kynuna and this guy had setup a circus tent display/tribute to Waltzing Matilda. He was from Winton but was at war with the local council and so he'd moved his tent to Kynuna. We listened to tales of woe and allegations of council corruption for 20 minutes but didn't really learn anything about Waltzing Matilda! I wonder if he's sorted out his problems as I see there is now a Waltzing Matilda display in Winton.
I was planning on riding straight through from Camooweal to Longreach but when we stopped at Winton I fell in love with the place. We sat down for a meal in the Bowls? RSL? Club. It was very old, fibro cement, wind out windows etc, but it did have a dozen or so pokies. There was no one else there, but the cook was a very friendly motherly type and cooked up a storm for us. When I mentioned we were heading off to Longreach straight after our meal, she explained that Winton was the real home of Qantas and talked me into staying in a motel next to the club. It was very old, weatherboard, cotton bedspreads with tassles, worn out carpet, but very clean and I just loved it. They didn't have a hot water service and I was amazed to find the water comes out of the town's bore water supply already boiling. They have 'cold water services'! The boiling water is cooled in a tank before it's used, so the hot water tap is connected directly to the water supply and the cold water tap is connected to the cooling tower.
We went to the Qantas museum and then stumbled upon Arno's Wall. Some bloke has spent his life in Winton collecting empty bottles and rubbish then concreting it into a wall!

Tomorrow is Day 31. Apart from the 5 days in Darwin it's been pretty much non stop riding. That's a long time on the road.
Makes you realize just how BIG Australia is!

Off towards Rocky in the morning.
 
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John_Johnny

Long Timer

Jericho Drive-in (Walk-in?)

Day 31. Winton to Emerald. 595km

After a most enjoyable evening in Winton we headed off with no particular final destination in mind, just to get as far as we can towards Noosa. I'm hoping to meet up with the Germans we met in Monkey Mia, as they flew to Noosa for a 3 week stay. We stopped in Longreach for 20 minutes and had a pastie from one of the bakeries. As we'd already been to the Qantas Museum at Winton, we skipped the Longreach version. We found this cute little Drive-In at Jericho. I guess it was really a 'Walk-In'. :D
By late afternoon we reached Emerald and it was quite a sizable city. The pub in the main street had a sign out saying rooms $35 so I decided to stay. I locked my bike up under the stairwell and settled in to a very ordinary concrete block of a room, but ok for 35 bucks. Then the pub band started playing....loud! Trev amused himself playing video games in the pub and looking for coins on the floor. I think he found a fair bit because he didn't hassle me for money, yet he managed to reach all the high scores on Galaga or whatever he was playing. I think some of the bar patrons flicked him a few bob. Tomorrow we will easily reach Rockhampton and I'm hoping for Noosa.
 
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